Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
07/02/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/02/2026 10:10
The Standards Are in the Mail: Comparing Credit Card Supply Indicators
July 2026
The Standards Are in the Mail: Comparing Credit Card Supply Indicators
John C. Driscoll, Benjamin S. Kay, Geng Li, and Cindy M. Vojtech
Abstract:
We provide the first lender-level analysis linking two independently constructed credit supply measures: the Federal Reserve's Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey (SLOOS) and credit card mail offers from Mintel Comperemedia. Using a matched panel of 73 banks from 2000 to 2019, we find that quarterly mail volume growth was 18 percent lower when banks reported tightening credit card lending standards, a relationship robust to including credit demand indicators. In addition, SLOOS responses on credit limits and interest rate spreads are also correlated with these terms observed in mail offers. Our findings validate both measures as informative credit supply indicators.
Keywords: credit availability, credit standards, offer rates
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17016/FEDS.2026.048
PDF: Full Paper
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